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A new independent research report released today by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that solar energy is following the same path to commercialization as other traditional energy sources spurred by federal incentives. The study, titled "Assessment of Incentives and Employment Impacts of Solar Industry Deployment," also estimates that the U.S. solar industry could employ hundreds of thousands of Americans by the end of the decade.
Like oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and all other traditional energy sources, the Baker Center finds, solar has received support from the federal government to promote its usage in order to drive our economy. In fact, according to the report, diffusion of solar energy technology in the energy markets is very similar to the paths that many American industries have traveled to become mainstream. Unlike more mature technologies, however, that continue to receive subsidies, solar energy is currently in a very early phase of its growth trajectory.

Despite the series of withdrawals of greentech IPOs this month, solar rooftop installer SolarCity announced on Monday that it is planning for an IPO. The company says it filed its IPO registration on April 26, and is waiting for the documents to be reviewed and approved by the SEC.
A SolarCity IPO has been an open secret for the past few months and a report in Bloomberg in February said that an IPO could value SolarCity at more than $1.5 billion. Back in February SolarCity also raised $85 million from investors like Silver Lake Kraftwerk to expand its rapidly growing solar rooftop empire. Overall, SolarCity has raised just over $200 million in venture capital, company spokesman Jonathan Bass told us back in February.

The Smart Junction Box allows for wireless communication with a central unit that can track the panels on their individual performance and allows the panels or its substrings to be quickly switched off in the case of failure, fire, tornado or other calamity.

Today an increasing amount of intermittent PV electricity is being pumped into the grid. As grid capacity nears its limits, the issue of grid compatibility is gaining in significance. Solar-farm owners must prove that - once connected to the electricity grid - their plants will behave in the same manner as conventional power stations have done for years. Failure to ensure solid preparation of the comprehensive certifications required in this context may delay the launch of service for their solar power system.

Structural batteries are sheets of carbon-composite material that can be molded into complex 3-D shapes to form the actual structure of a device. Thus, the rear wing of a racing car becomes an in-built battery, a torch is its own power source, and the fabric of a tent can capture solar energy.

Donald Trump swept into Scotland's parliament on Wednesday to demand the country end plans for an offshore wind farm he fears will spoil the view at his exclusive new $1.2-billion golf resort.
In a typically blunt display, the property tycoon told an inquiry into renewable energy to stop the wind power efforts in the country's north.
"Scotland, if you pursue this policy of these monstrous turbines, Scotland will go broke," he said. "They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us."
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world-class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.

This project has been developed by Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL), with full support from Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) which is the nodal agency behind construction of the Naramda canal that brought agricultural prosperity to the State. The engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project has been awarded to Sun Edison, a subsidiary of US-based global solar energy player, MEMC. The 750 metre stretch of the canal will generate 1.6 million units of clean electricity per year, as well as prevent evaporation of 900,000 litres of water per year from the canal.
Today, Gujarat has about 458 kilometres of open main canal, while the total canal length including sub-branches is about 19,000 kilometres; the final aim of SSNNL is to construct a total of 85,000 kilometres of canal network. Assuming a utilization of only 10% of the existing canal network of 19,000 kilometres, it is estimated that 2,200 megawatts of solar power generating capacity can be installed. This implies that 11,000 acres of land which would otherwise be needed to site solar panels as well as 20 billion litres of water per year can be potentially conserved.

The outlook for US wind power growth is cloudy and negative with the wind production tax credit (PTC) due to expire at year-end. The wind power forecast for 2012 is decidedly better north of the US border, in Canada, however. Canada’s wind power market should experience another year of record-setting growth in 2012, with the addition of some 1,500 MW of additional capacity, according to a Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) study released at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) annual conference in Copenhagen.
Canada’s wind energy industry enjoyed a record year in 2011, installing around 1,267 MW of new capacity, an investment of $3.1 billion that created some 13,000 person-years of employment. That ranks 6th globally with a total wind energy capacity of 5,403 MW, enough to power more than 1.2 million homes, according to CanWEA and the GWEC’s 2011 annual industry reports.

Data centers guzzle down 2% of the electric grid’s capacity and run up $2 billion worth of monthly utility bills. Furthermore, it’s estimated that by 2020, CO2 emissions from data centers will top the emissions by the airline industry. How do we get the cloud under control?
One solution might be improving the efficiency in how data centers draw electricity in from the grid. A recent post from GE Reports takes a look at how 99% of this electricity could be pulled in more efficiently by bypassing ‘filters’ when they’re not absolutely necessary.
If all data centers (‘the cloud’) did this, we’d be able to save 4,000 megawatts of electricity worth more than $3 billion per year.

The U.S. wind industry installed 6,816 megawatts (MW) in 2011, 31 percent higher than 2010, for a total
of 46,916 MW installed to date, the industry's trade group said in a release Thursday.
Setting the stage for a strong 2012, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) also said there were more than 8,300 MW of wind power under construction across the United States.
The nation has about one million megawatts of generating capacity with about 400,000 MW coming from natural gas burning plants, 300,000 MW from coal, 100,000 MW from nuclear, 80,000 MW from hydropower, 50,000 MW from oil and the rest mostly from wind and other renewables.
One megawatt powers about 1,000 homes.
Wind and natural gas are the two largest sources of new generating capacity in the United States. Wind has provided about 35 percent of new U.S. power capacity over the past five years, AWEA said.
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Trojan Battery Company launched "Trojan Tips," its video tutorial series created to provide in-depth information
focusing on a variety of battery topics such as deep-cycle battery technologies, maintenance practices, charging procedures and safety when handling batteries. "Trojan Tips" is designed to expand awareness of deep-cycle battery technology.
A new "Trojan Tips" video tutorial will premiere each month throughout 2012 on the Trojan Battery corporate Web site. The first "Trojan Tips" video, which debuts today, reviews the various battery technologies available on the market today, and what to consider when selecting a battery for a particular application.
Click here for the first "Trojan Tips" video tutorial.

There is currently no single solution that is better than another for all situations, but lithium-ion systems offer better cost of ownership in a number of situations, specifically hot climates, despite the higher initial cost.

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